An indoor unit for air conditioners which has an air filter at an air inlet and which has dust removal means for removing dust captured by the air filter has been known. The indoor unit of this type is provided with a storage box in which the removed dust is stored, and the user needs to remove the storage box from the indoor unit to throw away the dust. However, in general, the indoor unit of this type is positioned at a higher location in the room, and therefore, taking out and putting back the storage box is burdensome especially for the elderly and women.
In view of this, an air conditioner having a function in which dust removed from the air filter is automatically discharged to the outside of the indoor unit (outside the room) is disclosed, for example, in Patent Document 1.
Specifically, according to the air conditioner of Patent Document 1, dust removal means (a waste removal box) for removing dust from the air filter is provided in the indoor unit. Further, a waste collection box and a vacuum suction fan are provided in an outdoor unit. The waste removal box of the indoor unit and the waste collection box of the outdoor unit are connected to each other through a dust transfer tube. In this air conditioner, waste (dust) is removed from the air filter by the waste removal box, and the waste is suctioned by the vacuum suction fan into the waste collection box. As a result, waste captured by the air filter is discharged to the outside of the unit without the hands of the user.